Brothers
by onsummersday
Summary: ALTERNATE ENDING WHERE TADASHI DOESN'T DIE BECAUSE OF REASONS Tadashi and Hiro both get stuck in the fire. Brotherly fic. In progress.
1. Chapter 1

**OK GUYS, so this is a two part thing. Ehhh I think I was going for a drabble but I'll probably want to continue it. SO! I hope you like it. **

**BASICALLY Tadashi doesn't die in the fire. **

Hiro opened his eyes groggily. His skin felt cold as the dry ice he'd experminted on once before in 2nd grade.

Then he realized it was the intense heat surrounding him.

There were orange flames everywhere, burning brightly and menacingly.

Generally fires were wonderful things that kept you warm and happy, but not this time.

What had happened?

Oh.

The fire. Tadashi. Hiro running after him, yelling his name, grabbing his sweater...

then the explosion. And darkness.

Hiro's eyes scanned the flames desperately. The floor was cool concrete; he was outside, yet trapped within fiery debri. "Ta-" he meant to say his brothers name, but a cough stole his words. Man.

Smoke was everywhere.

He could hardly breathe so he didn't try.

Somewhere within the debri the boy spotted a flash of blue.

He stood up shakily and limped over to it, dodging fire as he went.

It was a dark blue cap with the words TADASHI written inside. Hiro picked it up, not caring that the heated fabric burned his hands.

"What? No-" once again coughs stole his words and he shut his mouth, closing his eyes.

No, his mind finished for him. Tadashi was alive. Hiro was alive, wasn't he? So why shouldn't his brother be?

I'll find him.

But Hiro had reached his physical limits. He was burnt. Badly.

A wave of searing pain across his legs and shoulder and he cried out in pure agony.

Smoke entered his mouth and nostrils, causing breathing to become increasingly difficult.

His vision swam. He swayed, first to the left then to the right, and then he fell limp.

But he never hit the ground.


	2. Chapter 2

**HEY GUYS. I'm really glad you liked the first part. YAY!  
>I totally forgot about this until tonight and I felt really inspired to write the next part.<strong>

**Anyway, here's part two. It's Tadashi's POV. **

Tadashi opened his eyes to darkness. His face felt like it had been pricked with a dozen pine needles.

_Ow_, that hurt.

It was confusing at first, but after twisting his head away, he realized they were leaves.

Little pokey leaves that pinched his skin.

Very quickly the man removed his head from underneath the bush and rubbed the side of his face.

All around him were distant sounds.

Sirens, crying, cars, crackling...

It was hot. Way too hot for October.

He was almost oblivious to the bright flames around him, but the large bump which had formed on his head gave him that excuse.

His eyes slowly towards the fire.

Everything was burning.

_Why?_

He was kneeling flatly on the ground, rubbing his pricked neck.

It didn't take long for the gears in his mind to twist and turn, revealing a memory that would stick with him for the rest of his life.

School, fire, running, Hiro grabbing his sweater, pulling him back, Tadashi panicking, and then BOOM.

He looked down at his ash stained sweater and frowned. What had gone wrong?

Something wasn't right.

He played shuffle with his memory until he found the problem nagging at the back of his mind.

If Hiro had been beside Tadashi when the building exploded...

His mind began functioning a little faster now.

"Wait. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa wait, wait." _No, no, no, no._

Tadashi stood up.

But he stood up a little too fast.

A dizzy spell hit him.

_Ah, ah, ah, no._

He held onto his knees for support.

His vision was flawed with dark spots. His heartbeat pounded inside of his head.

Too soon, too soon.

It lasted a few seconds before it vanished, almost as quickly as it came.

The man looked around himself quickly and desperately.

Burning wood and flames.

The smell was intense, but he couldn't open his mouth. He wouldn't.

That would let the smoke fill his lungs.

A stone building towered above lighting the night sky with a ominous orange- debris occasionally fell wherever it wanted.

"Hiro?" Tadashi called out, ignoring the the dryness he felt fill his lungs.

He covered his mouth with his sleeve and squinted out the smoke.

He remembered his boy scout handbook which he'd received in 5th grade. It had stressed that the ground was the safest place to be in a fire.

Tadashi got on his hands and knees and crawled.

Hiro was a smart kid.

He had read the handbook too. So he'd remember that instruction, right?

"Hiro!"

Debree fell from the sky and landed near Tadashi's leg.

Too close.

"Come on dude, don't leave me hanging here!"

_Come on, Hiro._

An agonized yell echoed through the enclosed space.

It was loud and filled with pain.

Nothing had ever scared Tadashi more in his life.

His eyes widened.

Smoke beat against them, burning them, making them water.

Tadashi ignored it and desperately searched around for the owner of that horrible sound.

Then he found it, right in front of his nose and not too far away.

The source of the scream.

Blue jacket, cargo pants, and jet black hair that hadn't been combed in days... Tadashi could have laughed with joy.

But something was wrong.

Hiro was unstable.

The hand which had been clutching his shoulder fell lifelessly to his side.

"No, no, no, no. HIRO, NO!" His voice sounded raspy.

Tadashi stood up and Ran.

Sparks burst forth with every leap he took.

Some hit his face.

Hiro went rigid...  
>and fell. He fell quickly, but Tadashi was quicker.<p>

Instead of meeting the ground, Hiro's head collided with his brother's strong arm.


	3. Chapter 3

**HEY GUYS. You liked the second page too!? Wow, that seriously surprised me.**

**Anyway, I'm gonna be honest with you... this page isn't the best. T_T But I seriously spent the most time of all on it, just trying to get the story to go somewhere and it all to flow. **

**ANYWAY. Thanks for all your positive reviews! It's been a fun project. :D **

Hiro collapsed.

He collapsed against Tadashi, who was there to catch him in time.

There was a moment of silence.

Complete silence, save the ever present snapping of the blazing fire surrounding the brothers.

The man breathed heavily.

He breathed the heated air.

It only made him wish for more air.

It was a never ending cycle.

This night was a complete disaster.

He'd wanted to encourage Hiro. Take a moment to give him advice.

Tell him how proud he was.

He looked down at his unconscious brother.

A red burn plastered the side of his pale face.

Instead, **this** had happened.

Tadashi then scowled, noticing something.

Hiro's breaths.

They were slowing down.

"Hey, no, Hiro. Don't...don't do this to me."

He pressed his hand against the side of Hiro's head.

Nothing.

"Don't do this to me..."

Two fingers slid against Hiro's temple.

An unstable and slow pulse responded.

This was bad.

"Hey buddy, can you hear me?" A thumb brushed against the boy's cheek.

Nothing.

"We're gonna get you out of this, okay?"

Nothing, again.

But Tadashi hadn't expected an answer.

The man gritted his teeth and stood up, lifting the limp body with him.

An agonizing pain seared the side of his leg.

He cried out.

Something had sliced the skin.

Blood gushed unmercifully from the wound.

So Tadashi looked down.

A hot piece of metal stared back.

Oh, great.

That was _lovely_.

When he stood, his leg had slid against it.

Brown eyes averted from the bleeding wound and back to Hiro.

His head draped over Tadashi's arm, revealing a neck filled with red burns.

Ajar lips let out small breaths.

His chest hardly moved.

It all looked so wrong.

The leg could wait.

Hiro needed help.

But there was no help to be seen within the yards of fiery chaos.

"IS ANYONE OUT THERE?"

No sound. Just fire.

"HEY, WE NEED HELP!"

Tadashi coughed and shook it off with the shake of his head.

Hiro seemed to weigh a million pounds.

What was generally an easy feat had become an excruciating task.

Each word seemed to slice his throat.

Like grating cheese.

Yelling was useless.

A waste of breath.

The man closed his eyes, sucked in a breath and took an agonizing step forward.

Then another.

He hissed with the pain.

_Ouch_.

His leg had ripped pretty bad.

A large chunk of wood slammed into the ground three feet away, sending fiery sparks everywhere.

It smelled like sulfur.

But despite the smell, he breathed through his nose.

He'd opened his mouth too much already.

Just calm, steady breaths.

He could do this. There were people around somewhere.

He just needed to find out the direction.

And then life threw a crummy lemon.

A really crummy lemon.

The building behind them collapsed.

It collapsed, and spreading piles of debri everywhere.

Tadashi leaned over Hiro, shielding his younger brother from the wall of smoke that washed over like a wave.

Everything was a sea of smoke.

_There went finding any life forms..._

Then Tadashi remembered something.

Something wonderful.

He had a phone

Excitement rose up in his chest.

This was it. This was the answer.

"Oh, yes, yes, yes, YES. We're gonna get you out of here, Hiro." He had kneeled down, heaving, and desperately rummaged for the phone in pant pocked pocket.

He found it.

It was on low battery, but working.

He speed dialed 911.

"911, what's your emergency?"

Tadashi's heart pounded inside his head, but he was happy.

"It's my brother. And me. We're stuck. In a fire..."

Hiro groaned.

It was actually exciting to hear him make a sound.

Tadashi could hardly see him through the smoke.

It was so hard to breathe.

He gently covered Hiro's nose and mouth.

He didn't to inhale this stuff.

The boy's skin was cold, despite the heated air.

His heart struck with concern.

The type of concern that kinda hurts.

_Stay with me, Hiro..._

"I think...he's dying..."

Less than eloquent words.

But Tadashi had lost a lot of blood himself.

He felt dizzy.

"Sir, where is your emergency located?"

There was static...

And his phone went out.

It disconnected.

"Hello?"

He desperately slammed down on the buttons.

He checked it once...

twice...

and again.

But the flashing empty battery spoke for itself.

**Dead**.

He hated that white battery.

_Come on, come on, come ON._

He slammed the phone shut, wiping his face with his sleeve.

The heat was getting unbearable.

So was the smoke.

Tadashi managed to remove his own sweater, and wrapped it around Hiro's mouth and nose.

It would buy the boy some time.

And Tadashi walked forward.

His leg seemed to tear a little more with each step.

He didn't know where he was going.

But he focused on one step at a time.

It seemed like an hour had gone by, but it had only been 10 minutes.

Tadashi gotten Hiro at least 20 yards from the scene, but then his leg gave out.

And he fell. Hiro rolled face down onto the ground, not stirring.

He hadn't seen that coming.

It hurt.

His lungs were dry, his throat was swelling, his vision was blurring, and he'd lost at least a gallon of blood.

If Hiro was breathing it wasn't visible.

This was hopeless.

And then there was a miracle.

Light.

A car light shining through the dark air.

Then four, and five.

One of them was an ambulance.

_Yes. Yes, yes, yes, YES!_

They were going to be alright.

_Hiro_ would be alright.

People with gas masks were running towards them.

Tadashi let himself slip.

But before he did, he saw something.

Something odd moving from the corner of his eye.

A figure running away from the scene.

And then the world went black.


	4. Chapter 4

**_ALLLLRIIIIGHT!_**** I TOTALLY DIDN'T EXPECT TO WRITE THIS PAGE TODAY! But after I got home I was totally exhausted and just wanted to WRITE. So I got it finished sooner than expected! :)**

**Can I just take a moment to say whenever I see you guys' reviews/favorites/follows, I get really excited? YOU GUYS DA' BEST.**  
><strong>Anyway, here we go.<strong>

Hiro was awake, his eyes roaming about the hospital room.

He himself was on an operating table.

A breathing mask was over his face.

Wires everywhere.

One, attached to his arm, filling with blood.

Nurses everywhere.

Running in and out of the pure white room.

The room with a white bed, white walls, a white floor, and white clothing.

It seemed so wrong.

Someone was squeezing his hand.

Tadashi.

He knew that grip from anywhere.

Hiro's eyes averted slowly over to his brother.

Tadashi apparently noticed.

And smiled.

"You're doing great."

"Tadashi...?" Hiro's brows furrowed with confusion.

"That's right."

The doctor hovering over the burnt Hiro seemed uncertain.

Although not much emotion really could show through his generally play doh expression.

What was up with this guy?

He might of well have been treating a cat.

The doctor floated over to a white clad nurse at the end of the room, whispered something, to which she shook her head sadly and left the room.

Tadashi frowned.

When he turned back to Hiro, the boy was looking at him with...

probably confused.

Go figure.

"The smoke from that fire infected your lungs, but that's all I know," Tadashi explained, guessing his brother's curiosity.

The man couldn't hide his anxiousness.

Though he tried. "I just came in myself. But you're gonna be fine. I promise. Okay?"

Hiro nodded, never looking away from his brother.

He still seemed confused.

The nurse returned and took a deep breath, holding something tightly in her hand.

She seemed fidgity.

The doctor stepped back.

His hands clasped tightly behind his back.

His oily mustache twitching.

Tadashi squinted, then looked at the nurse.

She looked back.

The woman stepped forward holding out a shot.

She took Hiro's pale arm.

Gave him a smile.

Hiro smiled back.

But Tadashi noticed tears were in her eyes.

Then the shot went in. Right into the vein.

"Uhh, excuse me, what's that do?" Tadashi asked, looking from Hiro to the nurse.

No one said a word.

The nurse held Hiro down gently.

And then the boy began convulsing.

He let out a wheeze, a cough, and a hideous gasp for air.

"Hey, what's that thing do, what did you do to him?" Tadashi turned to the doctor.

They knew what they were doing right?

The doctor looked back with souless eyes.

Well, from the sounds of it, no. Apparently not.

Tadashi lurched towards Hiro, but the doctor grabbed him, holding him back with iorn hands.

Noone said a word.

Hiro's gasps for air got more desperate, and he was grabbing the nurses hands, as if for support.

His feet were kicking.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?" Tadashi's whole face was twisted into worry, wrestling with the doctor's limbs of steel.

He felt empty inside.

And couldn't quite process what was happening.

Then stopped.

Suddenly.

Without warning.

Hiro stopped moving. He stopped wheezing.

Eveything stopped.

The doctor let go of Tadashi.

He heaved angry breaths, glaring at the nurse and doctor, then turned towards Hiro.

Tadashi grabbed his shoulders.

"Hiro, what happened?"

Hiro was staring at Tadashi.

And the older brother was almost relieved until he realized that they were not happy eyes.

They were the eyes of desperation.

Pain.

Hiro grabbed his brother's arm, and Tadashi put a hand over the smaller one.

"Stay with me, buddy, just stay with me. Alright?."

Hiro just stared.

"We're gonna go home and work on that project we've been planning, right? We've got all summer ahead of us. You can't leave."

Absolutely nothing.

And then Hiro's mouth opened.

But then it closed.

His eyes rolled back.

And then the heart monitor let out a slow, steady sound.

"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO."

Tadashi spun around, eyes pleading with the doctor.

"HIS HEART STOPPED!"

The doctor hardly twitched.

"My deepest condolences.

Your brother's lung infection had reached his heart.

We simply put him out of his misery."

The doctor looked like he'd just told Tadashi the weather.

And then Tadashi realized...the doctor meant for this to happen.

So did the nurse.

The man stared at them both with horror.

They did this.

But he couldn't give up.

He'd always been there to save Hiro.

To protect him.

From every gang, every wayward bot fight, every scrape he got into, Tadashi had been there.

This was just another one of those times.

He slammed his hands down on the boy's chest. He pushed, and pushed, and pushed, and pushed.

Until he exauhsted himself.

Until his arms hurt.

Until the realization dawned upon him.

Until he was crying.

...until it was too late.

Hiro's heart had stopped.

And there was no saving him.

_Dead._

Tadashi's head went down.

His hand slid to Hiros cold, burnt cheek.

"Wake up, bonehead..." the words were an empty whisper.

His eyes squeezed shut.

And he cried.

He cried, and didn't care.

His heart felt hollow.

He couldn't quite grasp what was happening.

He'd lost his brother.

And why?

WHY?

And then all that sorrow piled up.

It piled up and then burned.

He felt a twisted anger knot in his stomach, and he whipped around.

The Doctor stared back with beady eyes.

Little stubby eyes.

"WHY?!" Tadashi repeated.

"He was already dying," the doctor stated a matter of factly.

"He was ALIVE." Tadashi heaved.

"HE. WAS. MY. BROTHER!"

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just silence.

And Tadashi lunged.

He lunged for the doctor.

Instead of plunging into the man, he found himself rushing forward in bed gasping for air.

It had all been a dream.

A terrible dream.


	5. Chapter 5

**HEY GUYS.**

**Okay so I know that last chapter was cruel ok I am sorry *nose grows***  
><strong>oh, well, huh...<br>Truth is I thought about killing Hiro but didn't actually want to so I improvised. XD**  
><em>(<em>_TigerNinja16__: only the hospital bit where Hiro died was a dream. Fire was real!  
><em>_lambtastic__: LOL NOO I actually thought about that myself. I mean, what kind of doctor doesn't  
><em>_TELL a loved one before they do something like that. But since it was a nightmare...)  
><em>NomomoCutieXD Thanks for the suggestion! I love constructive criticism. I put more detail into this one._)_

**Anyway. I hope this makes up for the last chapter.**

There was a blinding, burning light right in front of his eyes.

A dozen people must've been pounding on his head, and Hiro was pretty sure they weren't supposed to be doing that.

_Hello? Personal space?_

He twisted around a little until he figured out where he was (or at least had a general idea).

Somewhere comfortable, probably a bed.

"He's waking up," announced an unfamiliar voice.

_Congratulations on the assessment. _

"That is one lucky kid," said another voice.

_Another wonderful assessment. _

"Wish I had a brother like that."

And then there was a pause.

"Well, actually I wish I had a brother."

_What were they talking about?_

Hiro tried to pry his eyes open.

"No kidding. The world needs more people like him."

Okay, what was going on. Brother?

Brother doing what for who?

It was officially confusion time.

Hiro Hamada managed, with the best effort possible, to open his eyes a crack.

He imagined he looked like someone who hadn't slept for a couple weeks, and was probably right.

The face of two unfamiliar doctor's greeted him.

_One of you guys tell me in full detail what is going on because I am LOST._

But instead the words came out a lot different (and raspier) than he had imagined.

"Uh...hi.

Where am I?"

"Judard's hospital," answered a tall doctor with combed brown hair.

"And you are one lucky young man."

Tadashi gasped for air in the darkness.

His chest felt constricted, and a weak hand shot up to press his heart.

It had all been a dream. A very bad dream.

But what was to say that he was not living in, yet again, a lie?

Even through the darkness the room was slightly visible.

It was, indeed, a hospital, as it had been in his dream.

Yet obvious reality seemed far less menacing than the one of his nightmare.

The man moved his fingers up and down, testing reality.

In his right leg there was a dull throbbing which penetrated even the gauze and ointment.

Yep, this was legit.

He flopped back into the pillows and stared at the ceiling.

There were so many questions that not one reached his head.

His heart was still pounding in his head and his stomach was tied in loose knots.

He had survived.

But...what about Hiro?

Tadashi frowned and chewed his lip anxiously without even noticing, until there was a small red mark.

Maybe there was, like, a phone where he could call a nurse or something. To his right he could vaguley see a small table, and noticed a lot of flowers.

Flowers, candy, a few cards, and...was that a toy _plane_?

He smiled to himself- leave it to his friends.

And that's when the door slowly open, illuminating the room with light from the hospitals hallway.

Tadashi elbowed himself up, ready to pound whoever it was with questions.

A tall doctor with pleasantly combed hair and a smiling expression entered. He smelled like soap, even from where he was standing.

"I can see you're finally awake."

Tadashi blinked. "How long was I out?"

"A day and a half, exactly."

The man took this information in, processed it, and then nodded slowly, sitting against his pillows. He felt a pool of dread in his stomach, tying up his intestines in knots.

Little anxious knots.

"How about my brother?" He finally asked, slowly looking up towards the doctor with a fearful expression.

"Well, that's why I came."

The doctor smiled.

"He's just woken up."

Tadashi felt a jerk of energy soar through his veins, and he lurched up in bed with wide eyes.

"Is he alright? Can I see him?"

The doctor put a hand up, mentally slowing Tadashi's eagerness down. "He's fine. His lungs are slightly swollen, and there are a few second degree burns. But nothing time and proper care won't mend."

Tadashi had never felt so relieved in his life.

Not even that time he'd found out he was accepted into his dream university compared to the happiness he felt at that moment he was told Hiro was fine.

He closed his eyes let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding.

"You'll have to wait till tomorrow to see him, however. He's still a little disoriented from the whole situation, so we'll play it safe and give him some time to rest and let it sink it."

Tadashi nodded. "Thank you."

And he meant it.

The doctor nodded in return. "You're injures are slightly more severe. Nothing deadly, but I'm afraid you'll have to be using crutches for a couple weeks. Your Aunt's got that taken care of already. She stopped by this morning."

He paused.

"That leg of yours had quite the time."

Tadashi glanced at his bandaged leg which he hadn't payed attention to before.

"Yeah...well, it WAS quite the time." He chuckled.

The doctor looked puzzled.

Or maybe it was admiration.

"Your brother is lucky to have you." He stated, to which Tadashi simply stared at him with surprise, searching for words.

"I"ll let you get some rest now."

Tadashi nodded, still surprised.

The doctor left and closed the door behind him.

Tadashi laid back down and closed his eyes, feeling himself smiling again.

He was alive. Hiro was alive. They'd survived.

And this summer they would do everything together to make up for it.


End file.
